A couple in Chiayi City could face a fine and criminal responsibility for forcing their Indonesian worker, a Muslim, to cook pork and work long hours, an official said yesterday.
The employer could be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 if found guilty of violating the Employment Services Act (就業服務法), said Fu Hui-chih (傅慧芝), a foreign worker management section chief at the Council of Labor Affairs.
Fu said any of the more than 190,000 foreign caregivers in Taiwan could call the “1955” hotline to seek government protection if their rights are violated.
Fu’s remarks came one day after police in Chiayi City said the Indonesian worker recently went to a police station to complain that when she came to Taiwan in January last year, she was misled into thinking she would be taking care of an elderly person.
Instead, the 27-year-old alleged that she had to work for up to 16 hours a day at a shop run by her employer in a traditional market and was forced to handle pork, which her religion forbids.
The police chief said the couple threatened to have her sent back to Indonesia if she did not comply with their demands.
To prevent her from absconding, the couple also withheld her wages for more than a year and tried to prevent her from communicating with anyone about this issue.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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